Powerful Fiji chiefs gather to discuss stance on coup

FIJI: Fiji's powerful indigenous chiefs gathered Wednesday to thrash out their response to the military coup that deposed the government of nationalist prime minister Laisenia Qarase.

The Great Council of Chiefs (GCC), a powerful advisory body which also has the power to appoint the country's president and vice-president, has so far refused to recognise military commander Voreqe Bainimarama's regime.

The chiefs have said they want to find a way to resolve the crisis caused by the December 5 coup but Bainimarama has refused to attend the meeting. The military has also prevented Qarase travelling from his home village in the remote Lau group of islands to the two-day meeting in the capital Suva.

Bainimarama named himself as interim president following the coup but wants the GCC to reappoint Ratu Josefa Iloilo to the post so he can then name a caretaker government.

The ailing 85-year-old Iloilo did not attend the first day of the chiefs' meeting.

The chiefs debated their own proposal, under which the military would surrender power to Iloilo, who would name an interim government, which would eventually call fresh elections.

SUVA, Wednesday, AFP